Looking at baseball from the outside

Houston Astros

There are some players who seem difficult to tie down to one position. How should history look upon a player like Rod Carew? Carew’s numbers definitely play better as a second baseman, but he played more often at first base. Ernie Banks, Robin Yount, Tony Perez, and several other players were stars at two positions. How does one group them appropriately? One approach, the one taken here, is to use the position that made them famous. Carew may have played more at first, but his career feels more like a second baseman’s career. Banks played a lot of first too, but made his name (like Yount) as a shortstop. And then the most curious case comes up: a player who started as a catcher, converted to second base (all at the major league level), converted again to an outfielder (again at the major league level) and then finishing his career as a second baseman again. Where does he fit in? That’s part of the enigma about Craig Biggio.